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Day Twelve Gorak Shep (5170m) – Everest Base Camp (5300m) – Lobuche

Slip Sliding Away at Everest Base Camp

The Walk You Have To Do

The walk into Everest Base Camp took me by surprise as I hadn’t read the section in the guide book. The track isn’t much of a track, making the walk a little crazy. At the end you just clamber over boulders and slip everywhere. But that’s getting a little ahead.

Insane trail to Everest Base Camp

The photo shows the middle section of the trail which had lots of boulders and scree. A defined path becomes non-existent, so we headed in a general direction picking our way as best we could. And following our trusty Porter Guide, of course. Because of clambering over boulders, I developed blisters on my toes. Applying band aids before setting out is probably a good idea.

EBC has the reputation of looking very dull. Most trekkers visit it in the afternoon when the mountains can shade the area. We took the advice to visit in the morning and with the light it was quite lovely.

Large boulder perched on ice above a small stream

Exploring the Everest Base Camp area

Our Porter Guide Basanta exploring

Tents for the 2015 Ultra Marathon Runners at Everest Base Camp

I plan to write a post about the runners and the marathon as they were a feature of our trek. We bumped into them several times along the trail much to the Trainer’s delight.

The Main Everest Base Camp Trail’s highlight is the view of Mt. Everest and the Himalaya Range from the top of the hill Kala Patthar. Not everyone has heard of Kala Patthar. However, Everest Base Camp is famous, so it’s a must do. Or is it? I felt uneasy at Base Camp, being directly underneath where the 2015 avalanche came off Mt. Pumori into Base Camp (or so I was told). If I go back I would climb Kala Patthar twice, climbing it once in the afternoon and again the next morning at sunrise.

The triumphant team of three, lined up to take the obligatory photo by the sign and flags.

The Trainer, Me and the Porter with the Yellow Wig at Everest Base Camp

Climb Every Mountain – The Open Door Singer’s sign at EBC

The sign for my choir had its big moment here. 130 people sang Climb Every Mountain to me before I left Melbourne. It was very special.

The round trip to EBC from Gorak Shep is 8km and takes 6.5 hours. Back at Gorak Shep (the end of the trail and starting point for Kala Patthar and EBC) we had lunch at the lodge where we had slept the night before and left. We headed back down to Lobuche (a 2.5-hour walk) through the long valley that feels like a moonscape. Back in our lodge in Lobuche we ate and went straight to bed. Exhausted but very happy and very pleased with ourselves.

All the training had prepared us well. The trek to Everest Base Camp is more than the walk to that point. It is about the training before hand, getting all the right gear and training with it, the research and preparation and then the trek itself. It is a long journey in many ways, for which you are rewarded in just as many ways.

I would love to do Everest base camp but I will be honest flying in Nepal petrified me! It was horrifying being in those terrible planes. 🙂 I do want to go again but it was hard being away so long. I was gone three weeks and my kids were 2 and 4 at the time so between my mom and husband it was hard. I also want to go to Bhutan but that too requires a lot of time. Someday! 🙂

It was sooooo enticing to read your blog and see the wonderful pictures! Yes, indeed it’s addictive! We’re going to EBC on March 14…..just hoping for reasonable weather this time. I’m also hoping for more slightly more comfortable accomodation than Annapurna – and maybe a few more Western toilets.

Your notes will be going with me – they’re fantastic! A request/question…..I wonder if you have your EBC day by day notes as a PDF? It’ll be easier to print this to take with me!! On the trek I won’t so much need your lovely pictures but I will need your words!